Substance
by HeartChanii
Summary: Just a small short story about Cloud. M for drug abuse. Slight CloudxAerith.


**I'm having a terrible day. So I decided to post this in hopes of getting nice reviews, but please tell me where I can improve it as well! This story was inspired by DamagedWorth with the story The Last Goodnight! It's an amazing story and I suggest you all read it. It's ZackxCloud and I love Cloud on drugs.**

**Disclaimer: Yeah I don't own these guys.**

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Substance

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_It's the same routine every night. Just breath, you've done this so many times before. Why are you so jittery tonight?_ Slowly he pushed the shining needle into his arm, pressing the substance into his veins and feeling the burn of it coursing through his body. His vision hazed, hallucinations fogged his mind, and finally sleep took him.

--

The sun shone through the windows brightly. Tree shadows dancing on the living room floor. His eyes slowly blinked open, and he rose to a sitting position; he had passed out on the living room floor. Grabbing onto a nearby table, he hoisted himself off the floor and onto his unsteady feet. Steadying himself on a couch arm, feeling his stomach gurgle with anger. A disgusting gruel started to rise in his throat, and he hurried to the bathroom to empty the nothingness in his gut.

He flushed the toilet, and looked at himself in the mirror. He was pale, a sickly pale. His body was cold, or was it warm? _I can't tell anymore._ Wobbling out of the bathroom, he made his way slowly to his room and changed, he was to meet his friend Aerith in thirty minutes.

Wincing as he walked outside and hiding his face from the blazing sun, "Shiva damn it, it's so bright…" He stared down intently at the ground, noticing he was swaying back and forth slightly. Aerith would have to wait a little longer; it was going to take many baby steps to get him to his destination without falling over.

Small amounts of the drug still circulated through his small body; the faces of people around him were distorted, and at some points he could have sworn the sidewalk was laughing at him and pulling away under his feet.

"There you are!" A cheery girl said, "You're late Cloud!" He looked up quickly to see the bright brunette girl; her hair was in a large braid and tied back with a pink bow. It brought a smile to his face when he got to see her, and quickened his steps towards her to give her a hug. Although it was too much for his body at the moment; the ground seemed to slip out from under him and he started to tumble over. Thankfully there was a wall there to catch his fall. He leaned up against, hoping, praying, _maybe she didn't see._ The last thing he wanted to do was worry Aerith; five months ago Cloud was confronted by all of his friends. They knew he had a problem, and they helped him kick his addiction. Sadly, he had become re-addicted to the drug he hated, but couldn't live without the vile drug known as heroin.

_Dear Shiva I hope she didn't see…_

"Cloud…" She spoke softly, her voice full of concern, "Cloud… No, no, please tell me that you didn't…"

He laughed nervous, sorting through his mind to find a quick excuse. "No Aerith. I stopped, remember? I'm just a little tired still; I wasn't feeling good last night so I didn't sleep well. Do you think we can sit down for awhile and get some coffee before we head over to Vincent's?"

"Yeah…" She turned; her face full of disbelief.

--

_Well, this is interesting._ Cloud thought to himself as he looked around Vincent's house. Spray paint and vomit accented the blue of Vincent's house and the white of his porch. The yard grew beer bottles and empty kegs instead of grass and bushes. Both Aerith and Cloud cautiously made their way to the door, dodging puddles of puke.

The door opened as soon as they reached the top step, revealing the pale, black haired nineteen year old. Vincent's eyes were a dark piercing red, and had dark circles underneath them.

Sternly Vincent blurted out the obvious, "You're late."

Cloud opened his mouth to respond, but Aerith chirped in before him, "Sorry. We stopped for coffee."

Vincent nodded and moved aside, motioning for them to come in.

"So Vincent, what the hell happened here?" Cloud questioned as he walked past the door and Vincent.

Receiving no response, Cloud turned to see Vincent's eyes clouded with slight confusion. "Don't you remember? I told you I was going to have a party last night. I invited you, but you never showed up."

Cloud froze, his eyes became slightly wider. _Shit… I remember now… I was high on heroin when he asked me. How could I forget?_

"Uh… Right. Right. Sorry I couldn't make it Vincent. Rude needed my help with something last night; y'know a couple of guys owed him some money. So I went to help him, and we were out till around two in the morning." The blonde smiled sheepishly, hoping his lie would work.

"Is that so?" Vincent said calmly as he walked down the hallway, being closely followed by Aerith and Cloud, and into the living room. "Because, Rude was here for the party last night, and he stayed over because Reno got smashed and didn't feel like carrying him home." He pointed to the couch where the bald headed Rude lay asleep, and the red haired Reno was sprawled out on the floor beneath him, a beer bottle in his hand.

Out of the corner of Cloud's eye, he could see Aerith fidgeting nervously before she chimed into the conversation, "And Cloud… Didn't you say you didn't feel well last night? If you didn't, then you wouldn't have gone out. I've known you for years, and when you get sick, even if it's just a cold, you stay inside." Her words were laced with worry.

Cloud panicked and tried his best to find another excuse, but the three were distracted by a groan that came from the living room. Turning their heads they saw Reno sitting up, holding his head.

"You guys are loud yo. I have a hang over, could you please shut up?" The red head questioned, his words slightly slurred.

"It's your own fault for drinking too much Reno." Rude said as he turned over on the couch and sat up.

"Shut up Rude, no one asked you." Reno scoffed, "So Cloud, where were you last night?"

Vincent's eyes scanned Cloud, "We were just wondering the same thing…"

--

"Who the hell do they think they are?!" Cloud yelled as he stormed down the street back to his house. "Like they should even be talking!"

--

_Aerith was sobbing uncontrollably as the others questioned Cloud._

_"Cloud! How could you start up again? We went through so much trouble to help you out of your addiction the first time. How could you let us down?" Vincent said, trying his best to stay calm, but his eyes contained fire._

_"We were there when you needed us. It feels like you turned your back on us now. Why didn't you ask one of us for help if you needed it?" Rude asked._

_Cloud silently pondered why he didn't ask for help. "I don't know."_

_"What the hell yo?!" Reno started, "You're so ungrateful Cloud, we helped and you go and start up again. Did all we do mean nothing to you? We were there for you through your entire recovery! All of those days where you would start shaking uncontrollably, or when you would have puking fits! And still, though we've been through a lot with you, you don't come to us for help when you need it and decide to start taking that drug again? You've got serious problems yo…"_

_Angrily Cloud clenched his fists at his sides and stood up from the couch he was sitting on. "Problems?! You want to talk about problems you alcoholic bastard?! You shouldn't be talking; it's obvious that you have an alcohol addiction! All you do is drink, drink, drink, then pass out and create burdens for your friends! You too Vincent, you've been cutting yourself for years! And Rude, you carry a knife with you at all times and kill people who owe you money! How can you help me with my problems if you're all too blind to see that you have your own?"_

_Aerith was now crying madly, her cheeks were coated in tears, her nose was running and she was having trouble breathing. It hurt Cloud to see her like that, and he wanted to comfort her and tell her it was going to be okay, but he knew it would not be. He knew it would be hard for him to even consider stopping his heroin addiction. It was too much for him to take right now, and he stormed out of the house._

--

"They're the ones with the problems!" At this point Cloud did not care if that outburst would cause him to lose all of his friends or not. He just wanted to go home, press some heroin into himself, and pass out. His pace slowed, as he looked ahead to see one of the drug dealers he had done business with before.

"Hey there kiddo. Remember me?" The man gave a yellow grin; some of his teeth were missing, and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Yeah. What do you want?"

"No need to be so hostile. You like heroin right? Well I just got some more heroin today." Bringing a hand to the fold of his large over coat, he pulled it back revealing about nine small bags. "You interested?"

Cloud thought for a moment. _Well… I am running low…_ "How much?"

The man's grin grew wider.

--

The blonde quickly hurried home, fingering the bag of heroin in his pocket in anticipation and nervousness. He never felt safe about carrying drugs when he was out on the streets. There had been rumors that police started stopping anyone who looked even slightly suspicious. _If I'm lucky I won't see any cops._

He spoke too soon, as he rounded the corner of a street he knocked right into a cop.

"Sorry sonny. Are you okay?" The policeman asked and offered a hand out to Cloud.

Slowly Cloud too his hand from his coat pocket, as to not accidentally pull the bag of heroin out, and took the hand of the other.

"Thank you, and I'm fine. Just in a little bit of pain." He tried to mask his nervousness with a smile.

"Are you sure? You look very pale. Maybe you should see a doctor."

"No, no, I'm fine. I swear." A cold sweat covered the blonde's body.

"Well alright, stay out of trouble." With that the policeman walked across the street and into a donut shop.

_That was too close. That was WAY too close._ Cloud quickened his pace back to his house, and before he knew it he had arrived. Pulling out his key he noticed his hand was shaking and his breath was uneven. After trying to jam his key in the door multiple times, it finally opened, and shut it quickly, making sure to lock it.

In his room he opened the box that held all of the necessary utensils and laid them out on his bed. He prepared the needle with the new heroin he just received. Pulling up the sleeve on his left arm, he jabbed the needle into the already black and blue skin from last night and pushed roughly down on the syringe.

He let out a shaky breath as he pulled the needle from his arm, the same effects taking over his body. His vision was especially blurred this time. Suddenly, a wave of nervousness splashed over him. _Someone's here._ He though to himself. _Someone's in my house._

"Who's here?!" He stood up and yelled. Forcing his stiffening legs to walk towards the door. _Why are my legs like this? This has never happened before._ He made his way into the living room, a deathly silence hung in the air. All he could hear was his uneven breath. "Hello?" He called, his words echoed through the house. He spoke again, but he could not hear his own words. The furniture in his living room grew faces with jagged teeth and blood red eyes. Their mouths dripped with anticipation to kill and eat Cloud. _What the hell is going on. _He backed himself into a corner, fearing for his life. His vision started to fog and a cold sweat broke out of his body. _It's cold, so cold. Why is it so cold?_ Wrapping his arms around his body, he tried to warm himself up. _What's wrong with me? _Cloud's body started to tremble uncontrollably. _The heroin… _His breathes became shallow. _It must have been laced with something…_ Darkness started to close around him, hoping to envelope all of him. Slowly his eyes shut as he fell to the floor.

--

"We are here today, to mourn the death of Cloud Strife…"

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**Please give nice but critical reviews! Thank you.**


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